1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fuel cell endplate and fuel cell, and particularly to a fuel cell endplate for use in a solid polymer type fuel cell or a direct methanol fuel cell that comprises a membrane/electrode assembly of a high-polymer electrolytic membrane and electrodes.
2. Related Art
A fuel cell has advantages that it has high-energy efficiency because electric energy is electro-chemically outputted directly from fuel and easily harmonizes with the environment because discharge from it is mostly water. Accordingly, attempts have been made to apply fuel cells to automobiles, distributed power supplies and electronic information processing devices. One of the major problems related to the fuel cell is how to prevent fuel leakage. The Patent Document 1 describes a gasket used as a seal for the fuel cell.
[Patent Document 1] WO 02/001659 (Summary)
The present inventors have acquired knowledge through our study that, in the case of a stacked type fuel cell comprising stacked unit cells, a main cause of the fuel leakage lies in the vicinity of manifolds. In the case of the stacked type fuel cell, for example, the fuel must be supplied evenly to all separators of the stacked fuel cell units and a lot of fuel is supplied into the manifold at a time; a pressure is applied not only in the direction of grooves of the separator but also in other directions, resulting in the breakage of the seal. On the other hand, in the case of a flat type fuel cell having multiple generators in a plane, the cause of the fuel leakage has not been revealed as yet. Recently, however, we have found out through our study that gaps are easily formed among the gasket, collector plates and a resin substrate bonded to the collector plates. The gaps are one of the main causes of the fuel leakage.